US proposes January start for Donald Trump’s election conspiracy trial
- A January trial would make the Washington case the first of Donald Trump’s three pending criminal cases to go before a jury
- Trump’s defence team is likely to call for a much later trial date, most likely after the November 2024 presidential election
US prosecutors asked a federal judge to begin former president Donald Trump’s trial on charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden on January 2, 2024.
That date would have the trial get under way just two weeks before the first votes are cast in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, a race in which Trump is the front-runner.
US Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office asked a judge in a court filing on Thursday to start the trial on January 2 in part due to the public’s interest in a speedy trial.
Smith’s office said that interest is “of particular significance here, where the defendant, a former president, is charged with conspiring to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election, obstruct the certification of the election results, and discount citizens’ legitimate votes”.
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A spokesperson for Trump said Smith and the Justice Department “are blatantly playing political games”, citing Trump’s status as a front-runner in the 2024 election.
Trump himself said on his Truth Social platform that any trial should be held after the 2024 US elections. Such a date would potentially give him the power to end his prosecution if he were to become president again.